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Heating Up For Pride 20:

Heating up for PRIDE 20:Ninja wants to prove his value inside the ring!
By Eduardo Alonso

Coming from the Chute Boxe team and following in the footsteps of teammates Pele Landi and Vanderlei Silva, Murilo “Ninja” Rua first appeared on the NHB scene fighting in the inaugural MECA World Vale Tudo event, in his hometown of Curitiba, and quickly drew the attention of fight fans worldwide. With wins coming from triangle chokes to knockouts, Ninja always displayed a lot of heart and will to learn all the aspects of the game. After a series of wins at MECA, the Chute Boxe rising star got an opportunity at PRIDE replacing his teammate Anderson Silva, who couldn’t fight because of contractual issues. Ninja didn’t waste his chance! He quickly became a new star on PRIDE’s roster, establishing his name with two decisive wins over Daijiro Matsui and Alex Andrade, and one controversial loss to Dan Henderson, where he proved he can hang with the very best the sport has to offer. At only 21 years old, Ninja is now about to face the toughest challenge in his young career, facing legendary fighter Mario Sperry. This fight is becoming one of the most intriguing fights on the PRIDE 20 card and it promises to escalate the already heated rivalry between the Brazilian Top Team and Chute Boxe! FCF starts to heat up for PRIDE 20 in great fashion, catching up with Ninja himself to learn a bit more about what he thinks about his fight and much more! Check FCF’s page in the following days to see what Mario Sperry has to say about the match-up, as FCF delivers the best PRIDE 20 coverage in the world!

FCF:You suffered a serious injury in January that forced you to stay away from training for a period of time. How was the recovery process? Are you already feeling 100%?Ninja: Yes! I’m already feeling a lot better, and besides I believe that Rudimar wouldn’t put me to fight at PRIDE if I wasn’t already 100%. I did all I need to do to take care of my injury; I think it took two to three months. I did physiotherapy and stuff, and now I’m ready to fight again!

FCF:What’s your training been like since the recovery?Ninja: For this next fight I was swimming on the mornings, doing Muay Thai and jiu-jitsu. It varies a bit. Sometimes I run, in fact right now I have been running every day! I also lift weights, of course, but I always trained a lot. It’s not just because of this fight.

FCF:Your opponent for this fight will be Mario Sperry, who dropped some weight recently to compete in PRIDE’s middleweight division. How much will you be weighing for this fight? And what do you know about your opponent’s game?Ninja: I’ll be weighing 93 Kg for this fight. I only know that he is a jiu-jitsu fighter, and I’ll try to knock him out standing. But if we ever hit the ground, I also train jiu-jitsu, so I’ll try to defend myself, and if I have a chance to finish him, I’ll finish him for sure.

FCF:As all the Chute Boxe fighters, you didn’t watch any tapes of him to prepare for the fight?Ninja: No, I never watched any tapes of any opponents I had. I don’t even know with whom I’m going to fight.

FCF:And you don’t even care to know as always (Laughs)Ninja: I don’t care to know for sure! (Laughs) This way you can expect everything in the fight, and you won’t fight the other guy’s game!

FCF:Is it true that even if this fight never materialized at PRIDE 20 you were planning to challenge him?Ninja: Yeah, I was already willing to fight him for some time! Thankfully this fight appeared. I heard some rumors in the past that he said that if he were going to fight me he would finish me very quickly. Since this got to my ears, I want to see if he’s really going to finish me quickly!

FCF:Do you believe that this fight can increase the rivalry between Brazilian Top Team and Chute Boxe?Ninja: Man, I don’t know! I can’t tell you that.

FCF:Do you enter this fight with any special motivation because he is a Brazilian Top Team fighter?Ninja: For sure man! This is one more factor that makes me want to demonstrate more violence in the fight! I’m going there to really brawl! I’m going there to fight! If he makes some mistakes I’m going to break his jaw. I’m training a lot. In fact I want to knock him out badly.

FCF:How do you believe this fight is going to unfold? What do you expect to happen in this fight?Ninja: Man! I don’t know what to say. A fight is a fight, anything can happen. But I’m willing to decide it standing! And if we have to go to the ground, we will go to the ground, but there’s no rules against striking on the ground you know — it’s different from jiu-jitsu. I’m going to brawl! I just can’t fight his game you know, if we hit the ground I’m going to strike him hard. I’m there to brawl.

FCF:Rudimar and Vanderlei already left for Japan last Monday. Who is going to be flying with you to PRIDE?Ninja: Next Monday I’ll be flying with Pele, Rafael Cordeiro, Anderson Silva and Cristiano Marcello! We’re going in a bunch of guys this time!

FCF:Speaking of Vanderlei Silva, he is going to be facing Mirko “Cro Cop”, a fighter who came from K-1, on the same card. What are you expecting from Vanderlei’s fight?Ninja: Gee, I think Vanderlei is going to knock him out! He is very strong nowadays. Vanderlei trains so hard man! I don’t even need to say, he proves it every time he fights. He has been training a lot and I’m sure he is going to win again.

FCF:It was recently announced that you will be one in the PRIDE videogame. Did you ever think that you would one day be a videogame character?Ninja: Man, I would never have expected it! (Laughs) Did they really announce my name on the game?

FCF:Yes, you and Vanderlei are already officially in the game!Ninja: That’s great! Man, I would never have dreamed it. I ‘m excited about it! Who wouldn’t like to be in a videogame? I think it’s great! I never even imagined that I would be fighting in PRIDE so early, at only 21 years of age! Let alone be on the videogame!

FCF:What are your plans after this PRIDE?Ninja: I don’t know. I plan to keep on fighting. Maybe I’ll fight “Navalhada” next. I don’t know. This is up to master Rudimar. But I’m already prepared for Navalhada.

FCF:What about your fight with Navalhada? Do you believe you’ll still fight him in MECA?Ninja: This is supposed to happen. I’m waiting to fight him; it’s going to happen for sure.

FCF:Don’t you think that PRIDE may not want you to fight in MECA if you keep on winning there?Ninja: But man, I’ll have to fight him no matter what! He talked a lot about me! With him, things are going to be really personal! He is very arrogant. I want to fight him. It’s a personal thing.

FCF:Besides Navalhada, is there anyone that you would like to fight?Ninja: That “Brazilian Killa” guy [Alex Stiebling]! He is very arrogant! And I’m not saying that just because of that T-shirt. Even the first time he went to PRIDE, he was already very arrogant… I mean very arrogant! I would like to fight him.

FCF:Any final message for your fans?Ninja: Man, I trained a lot and I’m going to do everything I can to win this fight! Everybody from the Chute Boxe Academy always wants to put on a good showing for the fans, and I expect to do it again.

FCF:Good luck and thanks a lot.Ninja: Thanks a lot.

From the event’s promoter:

UCC 8: FAST AND FURIOUSFROM COAST TO COAST!!!

The latest installment of the UCC 2002 tour will be invading your living room this Saturday April 20th as UCC 8 will be aired throughout Canada on Bell ExpressVu, StarChoice, Viewer’s Choice Canada, and Canal Indigo PPV carriers.

See the UCC debut of undefeated warrior Jason Black as he faces UCC veteran Ivan Menjivar. UFC and SHOGUN veteran Anthony "THE FREAK" Fryklund battles Jiu-Jitsu star Jonathan Goulet, C.J. Fernandes is back for revenge as he goes to war with powerful striker Dany Laflamme.

FEEL THE PAIN! as PAIN Peters returns to shut Jeff Davis’s mouth once and for all in a special grudge match!

The SUPERFIGHT of the evening will pit two of the most explosive and popular UCC stars against each other as DEMOLITION MAN Claudionor Fontinelle faces THE CROW David Loiseau in bout that will see the winner move on to fight for the UCC World Middleweight championship at UCC 10 in Hull! This will be Loiseau’s biggest challenge in his young career.

In the first of 4 titles on the line Richard "THE MONKEY" Nancoo is set to defend his Canadian SLW title against undefeated UCC warrior Steve Claveau.

Known as LOAF, Justin Bruckmann has been a main stay since UCC 1 and is back to defend his Canadian WW title against # 1 contender Joel Leblanc.

The LION HEART Steve Vigneault will face long time rival JP Cantin with hopes of once again defending his Canadian MW title.

In the main event of the evening Donald Ouimet will be in action to defend his UCC World MW title against Team Extreme member Jesse Jones. Jones is best known for submitting Dave Menne and is looking to add Ouimet to the list of MMA greats that he has defeated.

Fight 1
Bob Shabaga (Toshido Submission Fighting) def James Hanson (Sholty Jiu-Jitsu) by Armbar (rd1) – After a brief exchange on their feet, James ended up in Bob’s guard. Bob kept busy throwing elbows to the thighs of James, until he locked out the arm for the win.

Fight 2
Rob Acton (Poesener Pankration) drew with Gord Cummings (Sholty Jiu-Jitsu) – This was a WAR! Both competitors banged non-stop for 2 five minute rounds! Both fighter’s showed tremendous heart, with the outcome being a draw.

Fight 3
Jeremy Whittingham (C-Franco Pankration) def Chad Hamzeh (Canuckles MMA) by armbar (rd 1) – After an explosive takedown by Chad, Jeremy took over with one armbar attempt after another, until he finally caught Chad for the submission. Good showing for Jeremy.

Fight 4
Travis Galbaith (Sholty Jiu-Jitsu) def Eddy Ellis (Victory Athletic) by armbar. After an attempted reversal by Eddy, Travis rolled for a very slick armbar for the win.

Fight 7 – Canadian Light-Weight Title Fight
Jason Towns (Toshido Submission Fighting) def Frank Colcher (Toronto, Ontario) by TKO (rd 1) – After a brief exchange of punches, Frank dropped to guard, where Jason dominated position. Jason worked back to his feet, where he chopped at the legs of Frank who was laying on his back. Frank got back to his feet, but was thrown on to his shoulder. Jason went back to kicking the legs of Frank, who verbally submitted to the ref. As it turned out Frank dislocated his shoulder from the throw. This was a great showing for Jason putting him as one of the best in Canada in the 150 lb weight class. Frank is always game, and will undoubtedly be back in the mix as soon as his shoulder heals.

Fight 8 – Semi-Main Event
John Alessio (Millennia Jiu-Jitsu) def John DeLaO (DeLaO Jiu-Jitsu) by TKO (rd 1) – Alessio has obviously been working on his takedown defense as DeLaO was unable to capitalize on numerous takedown attempts. After an exchange on their feet, DeLaO ended up on his back clutching his knee (which was heavily braced from a previous injury), and was unable to continue. Alessio proved why he is the current UCC World Champion, with a great showing against the skilled DeLaO!

Fight 9 – Main Event
Denis Kang vs Dennis Hallman ruled a No-Contest (rd 2) – After a dominating performance by Denis Kang, Kang threw an unintentional foul, kicking from his back that caught Hallman in the face. Hallman was unable to continue, so the bout was ruled a No-Contest. Although the outcome was unfortunate, this was a great fight, showing that Vancouver native, Denis Kang, is more than prepared for the World’s elite fighters.

From the event’s promoter:

DangerZone Results

April 13, 2002 Caged Heat 4 Bears Casino Newtown, ND.

This show was in the new event center and 1500 spectators got to see a great night of fights. Kaos Stone was on hand to play the entrance music for the fighters.

THIS WEEK ON "NO HOLDS BARRED NEWS" ON WBAI’S "LIGHTSHOW:"KERRY MCCOY, CHRIS BONO, AND CAEL SANDERSON, AND THE 2002 U.S. NATIONAL WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
By Eddie Goldman

They are all ranked first in their weight classes in freestyle wrestling in the U.S., and all hope to win a national championship at the 2002 U.S. National Wrestling Championships, April 26-27 in Las Vegas.

This week on the "No Holds Barred News" segment on WBAI radio’s "Lightshow" we will be hearing from these three elite wrestlers, Kerry McCoy, Chris Bono, and Cael Sanderson.

We spoke to Kerry at the last week’s freestyle dual meet between teams from the U.S. and Russia at the New York Athletic Club. And we spoke to Chris and Cael when they visited New York to conduct several wrestling clinics in this area. Besides getting their comments on the upcoming U.S. Nationals, we also spoke to them about the NCAA Wrestling Championships.

With Chris and Cael, we also discussed art, baseball, singing, pastry, beer, and, oh yes, wrestling. Cael had been invited to lead the crowd in the traditional singing of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch at a Chicago Cubs game, but that game was rained out. We tried to get him to sing it for us, and, well … you’ll just have to tune in to find out what happened.

"Lightshow" airs weekly late Friday night/early Saturday morning, 3-5 AM Eastern Time. The "No Holds Barred News" segment airs in the second hour of the show, between 4 AM and 5 AM EST, early Saturday morning, April 20. This week’s segment is prerecorded.

WBAI broadcasts in New York on 99.5 FM. For those not in the New York area, WBAI can also be heard live on the Internet. There are two sites that stream the signal: http://www.wbai.org/ and http://www.2600.com/wbai. At this time broadcasts of "Lightshow" are not archived, but we are working on getting these audio interviews posted.

We also have an e-mail address for our segment on: nhblightshow@yahoo.com.

WBAI is a 50,000 watt, non-commercial station. This means that, unlike the advertiser-supported media, our opinions are not restrained by any commercial interests.

"Lightshow" is an arts and entertainment show whose main host and producer is Fred Geobold. I was a co-producer on this show from 1993 to 1998, and rejoined the show as a producer and co-host in September 2001.

posted by Full Contact Fighter @ 8:00 pm

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